"The Washington talking heads are probably mad because he is stepping over them and talking directly to the American people," added Seymour of Obama's multimedia assault. "But he's a rock star, and we have not had a rock star presidency in a long time. Since Kennedy, really."

This Tuesday, Obama will transcend rock-stardom when he kicks TV's top-rated "American Idol" out of its 8 p.m. time slot (for the second time this year) so Fox can join the major networks airing Obama's prime-time press conference.

Presidents, of course, have long commanded enormous media attention, but most of it has emanated from the so-called traditional media - the major networks, newspapers and cable TV talk fests.

Obama - along with his fashionable wife, Michelle, and young daughters, Sasha and Malia - has drawn the steady gaze of the celebrity press as well, from People magazine to US Weekly to, yes, Leno.

Not that everyone approves. Republicans have accused Obama of cheapening the presidency and ignoring his responsibilities at a time of profound economic distress.

"The President seems everywhere and nowhere, not fully focused on the matters at hand," sniffed conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, a onetime speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. "He's trying to keep up with the news cycle with less and less to say."

Many experts say Obama is simply trying to exploit his place within a celebrity-obsessed culture, while recognizing that there is more to media strategy these days than tending to the White House press corps.

As Obama said on Friday, "The more I can break out of the bubble, the better off I am."

Not that there aren't risks, say others, who caution that too much talk about White House pooches and college b-ball could undercut Obama's "brand," which most regard as a serious-minded, post-partisan approach to big problems.

"I think there is a balance, and he has walked it appropriately," said Raphael Bemporad, a founding partner of marketing firm BBMG. "But there are times for final four brackets, and there are times for deeper and more profound policy conversations."